CPR classes have grown more popular over the course of the years and are even required for a number of different professional positions. For instance, teachers and anyone else who works with kids often needs to take CPR classes before they can begin their role in the classroom or elsewhere. This is key for keeping the kids in question safe, just in case an emergency situation were to survive. After all, the typical teacher essential becomes the guardian of the children in their care – and keeping these children safe is, above all else, imperative.
In addition to this, medical professionals must also, of course, take CPR classes and go through extensive CPR training. After all, lifesaving is simply a part of the profession – and not one that can be ignored or looked over even with simpler methods of lifesaving like CPR can sometimes be considered. But even if you’re not someone who works with children or a medical professional, taking CPR classes is likely a good idea. After all, you can never be sure when you’ll need the first aid training that these CPR classes can teach. Of course, you hope that you’ll never have to use it, but it is certainly always better to be safe than to be sorry.
And the statistics surrounding such things really serve to back up the overwhelming importance of CPR classes for all people. After all, emergency medical situations are likely more common than you realize. Recent data even shows that more than 300,000 people will go into cardiac arrest each and every year – and this is just counting the people who experience such a medical emergency outside of the hospital. If such an event occurs and you are able to perform CPR, you will likely save a life – or at least the brain function of the person in cardiac arrest or suffering from another emergency medical event.
Again, this is something backed up by the research. This research has found that a patient that is not given CPR loses up to 7% in terms of their chances of survival for each minute that passes them by. This is due to the fact that the act of performing CPR, as learned in CPR classes, helps to maintain the flow of blood in the body to the heart as well as to the brain, essentially allowing the body to stay alive until emergency medical help can arrive. If CPR is not performed and the patient survives, the chances of brain injury or even brain death are much higher.
CPR can even be used in combination with a defibrillator, as it helps to extend the duration of the electric shock that the defibrillator gives to the person in crisis. Of course, using a defibrillator can also increase the chances of the person in crisis living – and suffering no neurological deficits. Statistics recently gathered on the subject clearly show that more than 93% of patients who were treated by a defibrillator (and often CPR as well) suffered no permanent brain damage. However, while effective at keeping people alive, CPR alone led to only 7% of all people who were given this treatment keeping all of their brain function and remaining what is called “neurologically intact.” Therefore, the importance of defibrillators in as many buildings as possible is clear, as the chances of surviving a major medical event like a cardiac arrest is much higher if they are there.
Of course, CPR classes play a critical role in this as well, and the two go hand in hand when it comes to survival rates. But the typical CPR training course will actually teach a whole lot more. In fact, many CPR classes now include some level of basic first aid training. This basic first aid training can help to save lives as well, especially when it comes to knowing when to call an ambulance. While this first aid training won’t be enough on its own in many cases, it can serve as an essential stop gap of sorts while the patient in question is transported from the scene of the incident to the nearest hospital. Therefore, such education is a must at any and all CPR classes.